I recently received my William & Mary alumni magazine in the mail.  On the cover was a full spread devoted to our new mascot, the Griffin.  I must admit, I had mixed feelings about a new mascot.  I am hesitant about change but have started to warm up to the Griffin.  There are some good things about the Griffin as a mascot choice:

1.  It’s better than no mascot at all.

2.  It’s better than a giant booger mascot with a tri-cornered hat (good riddins Colonel Ebirt).  Besides, when has it ever been cool or clever to spell your name backwards?

3.  It’s better than some of the other proposed options (e.g., a pug).

4.  It demonstrates some thoughtfulness (lion + eagle pays homage to Britain and the United States).

5.  The only consistent mascot that W&M has ever had was an Indian (which has been absent for decades).  If the NCAA won’t let us even have feathers in our logo, there’s no chance to have a caricatured Indian mascot on the sidelines.  I’m just thankful we have good enough lawyers to save our name as the W&M Tribe.

In the true spirit of W&M nerdiness, the Alumni magazine profiled the history of W&M mascots and nicknames.  Some poor undergrad history student was probably forced to dig through the archives of Swem library to write this stunning exposé.

Now we join the list of schools who have a mascot with no connection to their name (e.g., The University of Alabama Crimson Tide, mascot = Big Al the elephant).  Oh well, nice job on the mascot search W&M.  If it doesn’t work out, we can try again in a few years.

“Hark upon the gale.”